A note from Mr. HIStalk: I should introduce your editor, Travis Good. Travis will receive his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Colorado School of Medicine next year, focusing on global and rural health. He’s dual-enrolled in the university’s MBA program and will receive that degree (in Health Administration) at the same time. He earned an MS in Decision and Information Sciences from the University of Florida, along with a BS in business administration from UF. In addition to earning several awards and undertaking many charitable endeavors, Travis has worked in the Enterprise Architecture Group of a large health system and was involved in a biotech firm’s surgery simulator project.

Ephone International shows off its EPI Life mobile phone at CommunicAsia 2010 in Singapore. The phone has a built-in multi-lead EKG that transmits heart rhythms automatically to a 24-hour concierge service that will read the EKG and respond via text within a few minutes.

The Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) delivered more than 100,000 consultations last year, not to mention over 20,000 educational and administrative events. Reimbursement is not a problem, as OTN is funded by the Government of Ontario.

This story paints a positive picture of teletherapy, electronically delivered psychotherapy whether audio alone or with video. Is anybody out there familiar with breakthrough.com?

Mega-insurer WellPoint will offer to offer telemedicine services to select areas starting this fall. I believe its provider is American Well.

Hartford Medical Group uses RFID based real time location services (RTLS) from Queralt to better assess changes in efficiency and operations before and after EMR implementation. The process will be used at all 16 of its facilities.

UAE and Saudi Arabia implement cutting edge HIT and mHealth technologies with the help of Intel and Cisco.

Children’s Hospital and Medical Center of Omaha partners with text4baby to provide expectant and new moms with up-to-date, relevant guidance and information.

This American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) article provides a good summary of the new CMS telemedicine credentialing process.

J-Lo launches a telemedicine charity on Larry King to help sick kids everywhere.

95% of physicians with smart phones download applications to access medical information. I keep reading these studies about smart phone usage by clinicians but in my experience, this week for example, smart phones are used almost exclusively for texting, OR music, e-mailing, and browsing. Only once over the course of the last four days have I seen a phone used for a clinically-related purpose: to look up a drug dosage.

Trucker health company Roadside Medical partners with Pilot Travel Centers to open three new clinics featuring iPads, telemedicine capabilities, and an EMR for professional drivers.

Caring Technologies receives $1 million from the National Institute of Health to commercialize its TalkAutism service. The service archives video clips of behaviors of interest online to be evaluated by experts remotely.

The FCC and FDA will hold joint public hearings July 26 and 27 to assess regulations for wireless telemedicine and telehealth applications.

A survey of CMIOs finds that 39% of their hospitals have mobile devices installed, while another 26% plan such implementations by the end of this year.

The New England Journal of Medicine releases its official iPhone app (free for now) allowing access to articles, audio and video. I just downloaded it and agree that it’s a great tool to stay up to date on evidence while on the go.

EnovateIT expands its mobile and wall-mounted workstation business into overseas healthcare markets, citing similar demand to the US as EMRs replace paper.

More wireless health news out of San Diego — the nonprofit West Wireless Health Institute in San Diego, which innovates the use of wireless technologies such as the “smart pill” to advance medicine, gets a $25 million grant and announces partnerships with Carlos Slim Health Institute, CareFusion, and Medtronic.

Forth Valley Hospital (Scotland), opening in August, will use robots to dispose waste, deliver food, clean ORs and even dispense meds. Aside from the projected operational improvements, the article claims infection control will also be improved.